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back-and-forth. He gets there quickly. "He bothered [Arizona State quarter- back Taylor] Kelly when he got there. He's a guy that we activated a lot today. I'd say he did a pretty good job." After allowing 12.0 points per game in the first five games, Notre Dame has surrendered an average of 42.0 points in its last four contests, even if much of it falls on the offense and its turnover problems. With Schmidt and Riggs sidelined, Notre Dame started five sophomores, four juniors, one freshman and just one senior — nickel back Matthias Far- ley, who has another year of eligibility remaining. "Obviously when you lose a guy like Cody it has an effect on the defense, but Devin is a great corner as well," sopho- more safety Max Redfield said. "We had all the confidence in him. It didn't make too much of a difference to our scheme or the defense's mindset as a whole, but obviously it's different having a guy like Cody out." Underclassmen such as Butler and Morgan will have plenty of opportuni- ties moving forward for a defense that should return all 11 starters from the loss. "We came out and battled in the sec- ond half, and they definitely showed their growth," Day said of the young players. FEELING THE PRESSURE Arizona State's blitzes left the Irish offensive line spinning like a revolv- ing door and resulted in seven sacks of Notre Dame senior quarterback Everett Golson. By comparison, the eight previ- ous Irish opponents reached Golson a total of 14 times. In 2013, the Irish al- lowed only eight sacks all season. Despite their repeated successes, the Sun Devils did not use any exotic mea- sures to best Notre Dame's pass pro- tection — the seven sacks came from seven different players. Kelly said his offensive line faced each blitz used during the game earlier in the week in practice. "Everything that we practiced, ev- erything that we saw last year, we saw this year," he said. "There were abso- lutely no changes in what they did. It was nothing new that we saw out there, which makes it even more mad- dening and frustrating." Arizona State forced two Golson fumbles, and pressure played a part in three of his four interceptions. Two were deflected at the line of scrim- mage, and he was hit as he released the pass on the third, altering its tra- Sophomore Devin Butler made his first career start at cornerback after fifth-year senior Cody Riggs was ruled out because of a foot injury, and made two tackles and broke up two passes. PHOTO BY BILL PANZICA